The trouble with being royalty is that you can't sneeze without someone wondering if you're down with a life-threatening aliment.

So Prince Charles should have known better than to have given his personal view on politics while on an official visit to another country.

The Prince Of Wales reportedly compared the recent actions of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine to those of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in World War II during a tour of a museum in Canada.

Ms Marienne Ferguson, 78, who lost family members in the Holocaust, told Daily Mail: “I had finished showing him the exhibit and talked with him about my own family background and how I came to Canada. The prince then said: ‘And now Putin is doing just about the same as Hitler’."

“I was very surprised that he made the comment as I know they (the royal family) aren’t meant to say these things, but it was very heartfelt and honest.”

Honest? Yes. Smart? No.

The remark has made headlines around the world, and Russian media said it threatened to further “complicate” relations between Britain and Moscow.